3d Term, Week 6 🤩⚓️

22nd – 28th of February 2021

Riga!!!! Discharging the nice fertilizer loaded in Sluiskil! After a couple of days sailing in the Baltic, we arrived in Riga. It was an interesting trip for me because when entering the Gulf of Riga, we were regularly checking the ice maps for the ice situation. And it seem it was all clear for us till Riga, which was good. Maybe a bit more ice close to the coast. But then this happened: During my night watch, I found it strange that a ship ahead of me suddenly slowed down and almost stopped. That vessel was of course quite a few miles ahead of me, and there were also other vessels behind me and we had probably all checked the same ice charts that evening but….. As I saw the vessel strongly slowing down and only doing 2-3 knots of speed; I paid a little more attention to the horizon to try and figure out what was happening. Indeed, my route was not too far from hers so I didn’t want to be on a collision course with her but wanted to leave enough space in case she had some troubles and was drifting. But suddenly on the horizon, I could distinguish in the deep night so blurry greyish cover on the horizon. And there was a huge ice patch there and it was not mentioned on the ice charts!

Perfect conditions for discharging in Riga

Ruyter alongside in Riga, discharging fertilizer, the fog came up.

We did not have much choice to go through, but luckily Ruyter is an Ice class A vessel so she handles it well. Of course, the inevitable noise of ice scratching the hull surprised quite a few that night. Normal: they had expected a peaceful non-icy night and they suddenly felt as if we were stuck in ice again. Almost. I mean. It was a surprise for us. And also for the other vessels. The one ahead of us and… the ones behind us! The only thing you have to do is slow down the ship and enter slowly to not have any unwanted damages. Because of the ship ahead we knew the patch was not that big; but big enough to last a couple of hours pushing away the patch. It reminded me of when we would go on unchartered areas in Antarctica on board Bark Europa… slowly pushing and making sure everything was fine. Well; that happened and it was fun. It was my little story of the night, haha and I shall remember it well! « The unchartered big patch of ice in the Gulf of Riga ».

So there we were back in ice in the harbour. A nice blue sky the morning, all hatches open, but nice and fresh (read cold haha…) air outside. Good. I do not mind the cold anymore, right? All these cold showers are supposed to toughen me up, and after my experience at -17° in Finland… any temperature around the 0° should be warm too, is that not correct? There was also still snow on the quaysides! Amazing! It is funny how in these last posts, I have the feeling I have been only talking about timber cargo, ice and snow. But to be honest it is probably the only thing we talk about onboard: how cold it is going to be outside for cargo and mooring operations and what we have to do on deck for the lashings! Haha. Oh well.

I was saying that the day started with a great blue sky so I opened up all hatches for discharging. But later during the day, it started to become foggy. I do not really like it when it is foggy because I never know what to expect. I know that in theory there is no rain with fog, but to my eyes, fog is only damp air; thus wet air and it is not that I get nervous with sensitive cargo, but I do find myself checking outside way more often than with blue sky. Fertilizer dissolves very fast with water, and would not want to have it on my hands that the cargo gets damaged because of me. Luckily it did not happen and we were discharged very smoothly.

Underway to Hamina , following the icebreaker

From Riga, we sailed in ballast to Hamina again to do our second timber voyage to Brake. Unlike Riga, Hamina was still completely covered in ice. There was so much ice that we actually got stuck in the ice! Yes yes! We tried pushing a bit but we were not going anywhere really. And if the pushing method works for smaller and already a bit broken ice; it doesn’t work at all for big thick unbroken patches. We had to call the ice breaker. Captain H. Called them and as they were not too far from us, they came directly to « rescue » us. I mean it is not a rescue in the literal sense; they are there to assist us. And that is what they did! They flew in to help us and passed next to us quite close to break the ice and create a waterway for us. It seems for them that it was normal sailing: no ice no nothing. Can you imagine the power they have? As you cannot move forward they just sail close by to help you out and create a gap so that you can sail through? It was pretty cool to see! We had to be fast to captain H. Directly followed him because otherwise the ice just closes back behind the ice-breaker and we are stuck again. We could almost sail our normal speed again….

Sailing in the ice

The bulb passing the ice when sailing

And we loaded in the same conditions as two weeks ago. Except that this time we did not have a full weekend waiting in the harbour. Oh and also the weather was not as nice with big sun and blue skies. We loaded directly the day after we arrived. This time I was more at ease. More at ease because I knew the cargo, I knew the plan as I had already seen it in action once and simply because I knew what was expected. As simple as that.

The sun of course only came out as we were sailing out of the harbour. I would not say it often happens like that but… yeah. The good thing about sailing in winter, compared to autumn for example; is that there are more high-pressure systems so the majority of the time it is blue skies and correct winds. While in autumn it can be horrible weather with very strong winds and depressions passing over the Baltic Sea one after the other. And that is very tiring.

This time what was tiring was the lashing of the deck cargo; once again. But not the weather. As it was the second time we were doing it, we managed to get in a good rhythm and found a few tricks to make our lives easier. Working with the watch crane a bit more to lift the heavy parts for example. But it seems that there is no way to end up not making so many steps and back and forth to carry the slings and hooks and chains from one part to another of the ship. Unless having to storages, one fore and one aft; but it is not the case. We just put our « just do it » mentality on and… just did it; calmly but well. It is very important to double-check the lashing on deck because if it is not tight enough, cargo can fall and it becomes a big problem for the stability of the ship.

The lashing took place during the daytime and we easily sailed out in the middle of the afternoon for Brake. We managed to have a beautiful sunset too. I admit I do not get tired of sunsets at sea. I have a lot of pictures of them. When I see one I take a picture. It is always the same but different. Different colours, different clouds; but always as beautiful as the previous one.

Beautiful sunset underway to Brake with Timber deck cargo

It was a fully efficient and hard working day. It was time for me to get some rest before my night watch at midnight.

We were back on track for a few days sailing before Kiel Channel again and Brake. Would this become our routine for the next voyage? Mhm… we shall see next week!

Take care and have a good rest my friends!

Xxx Sophie

3d Term, Week 3 🤩⚓️

1st-7th of February 2021

Another couple of days sailing in the Baltic Sea, enjoying the calm sailing and the view from the foredeck. This always brings me so much joy to be out there. I know I have mentioned earlier already that it reminds me of the good old times on board sailing ships. There you are always outside in the wind and sun or cold and rain! Have you ever been all the way out on the bowsprit a big tall ship? Either just for the view or to go for a real sail? Well, it gives you a feeling of freedom and awe that is incomparable. You have the feeling you possess the world yes really! If you have not tried yet, you’d better find the closest tall ship nearby and book a trip to try! I should make this a sort of promise to myself to go there way more often than I do now that would be good for me!… even more fun to go there with more crew!

So here we are in Hamina! Ready to discharge the rails and it is indeed frozen everywhere! I had been waiting and expecting ice already since the Swedish coast! But nothing. Then there! In the binoculars, I could finally see a little bit of ice! So it was indeed true! There was ice in the Baltic! We had to wait until later in the evening to see more ice while sailing. We were already close enough to shore and the ice was not too dense, despite fact that it was thick. An ice breaker had broken the way for us to be able to enter the harbour. It was a bit noisy inside the ship due to the ice scratching along the hull and ice blocs going through the propeller. But it didn’t last too long. And I was also coming on watch so I could enjoy the view from the bridge together with the captain and pilot that was onboard then. It was quite new for me of course so I was looking everywhere and just enjoying every bit of it.

I was trying to finally meet pictures and real scenery. All the stories and explanations the crew onboard were talking about. Of course Captain H. loves ice sailing and the cold so everything from his point of view is the best thing ever. The Indonesian crew have different stories and if the heater is full-on in their cabins and accommodation corridor, they do show themselves brave enough to not complain once were working and waiting on deck. This is not their climate. But they do also get used to it too.

When getting ready to moor the ship in the middle of the night: ice and snow everywhere!

We will have a crew change here in Hamina: one Ab is going home and another one coming and the engineers are also swapping. Imagine for a second the difference of temperature they will be facing! Coming in over -10°c with warm blood! We, onboard, have had time to adjust, but not them yet!

The first thing we do when we arrive and are fast alongside is to put the gangway in position so that the pilot can disembark, then we directly prepare the ship to be ready to discharge: open speed-locks and wedges, prepare the hatch crane… This time, we also had to check the ice situation on deck. The last 10 hours we had some spray on our port side now, not much, but just enough to cover the ship with ice. In some parts, we had 4cm of ice and in others, it was a few mm only. This is important to know because it can be very dangerous for the stability of the vessel to have much ice on deck. It creates an extra unwanted weight that sometimes cannot be removed easily.

Ruyter alongside in Hamina, the next morning..

Hammering the ice off from the hatches to make the ship ready for discharge.

For that, we have big wooden hammers and we make sure that the hatches can open and that the hatch crane can rail everywhere without being blocked by the ice. This time we just made it ready to discharge and prepared everything then went to bed. We wouldn’t start discharging till the next day, but in case of a change of plan in the schedule, we should always be open ready hatches. Later in the morning and afternoon, we hammered and scooped away the snow that had accumulated.

It was not too bad actually, I enjoyed it quite a bit as it gives you a good workout and keeps you warm. The hammering part. Not the shovelling part. Our first 4 hatches have brand new paint coating which makes it too slippery for my taste.

Captain H. and AB J. hammering and shovelling the iced hatches.

I do not know how the guys do it. I have the feeling I am like in a circus or cartoon with soap under my feet walking like a grandma and lowering myself down on the knees to crawl like a baby and avoid falling! We had a good laugh and lots of fun..

In Finland, they have a full day of work from 06:00 till 23:00 but we have a 1-hour difference as we stay in ship time. So that meant that they would start discharging at 05:00 my time. I need a little less than to 30min open all the hatches safely with no pressure. Usually, I take a quick 10 min to prepare myself, and then once the ship is ready outside I make myself a nice cup of coffee and start my day. This time I was quite anxious about the amount of snow that would have probably fallen during the night. I woke up the whole night to check through my porthole. I was awake early every day, in the freezing cold. I could not feel my hands in my gloves anymore. All that time I was thinking that cold was only a piece of information to and trying to be a female version of Wim Hof with not much success- my hands were so cold! I am glad they did not fall off!

Anyways. Ice sailing is fun even though it requires more effort and work I guess. I do not mind. Not only because I like to feel the fresh air face but I also like to have a difference in seasons: in the winter nice and cold with snow and ice and winter overalls and not feeling your fingers anymore when driving the hatch crane and in the summer shorts and tee shirts not so many layers and enjoying the sun tanning your skin, longer days and the warm breeze at sea. The next day we discharged in one day and shifted berth to load timber.

Timber! My first timber cargo. I must say I was a little anxious about it because I have heard a lot of times that timber was a “difficult ” cargo. Because it required a lot of work for the lashing on deck. We would be sailing to Brake, on the Weser river, in Germany. When we arrived at our new berth we heard that we would not load during the weekend. Finish stevedores in this harbour do not work on weekends. To be honest, I was quite happy because I had never really had the opportunity to walk around ashore in Finland. I actually think that it was my first time too.

Our walk from the ship to Hamina in Finland

Proof that I have been to Hamina, Finland!

So we had a quiet weekend and went for a long walk to Hamina, 6 km back and 6 km forth. It was really freezing cold outside: up to -17°c! Finally had the opportunity to buy my first postcards while being onboard Ruyter! This is also a challenge to get some cards while working here! The walk was great! I was afraid to be a bit cold as I only left with my thin jeans on my legs, I had a few woollen layers on my upper body. But I was ok. Walking really heats you up.

Hamina is a tiny city. With corona, not much was really open. But probably also because we have a one hour time difference with them and we were there in the late afternoon in town. We were looking for a place to have a nice coffee but couldn’t find one, so ended up asking, and found ourselves sitting at a small food cafe inside the tiny ” shopping mall” it was just what we needed a coffee and a small bite before returning to the ship. We had decided this time to take the ice way back aka walk all the way back on the ice, where normally ships would it be passing! Was quite a fun experience!

The next day we went again to Hamina but this time back and forth on the ice directly. It was a shortcut… But this time found bars open! So we sat in a pub for a Sunday beer together… thinking of our friends back home who could not enjoy a beer in a bar because all restaurants and pubs were closed till further notice. Well. Most of the times sailors do not have time off but this time – for once- we were the lucky ones!

Engineer A., Captain H., Duschi the dog (you only see the leach!) and myself enjoying the second walk to town.

Talking about relaxing and cold weather! I have had my very first dip in freezing ice-cold water too! It was -14°c outside and we were just alongside. The AB’s put the pilot ladder out and we (captain H. and I put our swimsuits on and went in the water! There was ice everywhere of course! To be honest the water did not feel that cold! It was more my hands. Hurting and starting to “stick” to the iced ladder so I came out.

Going in to the ice cold water while it is -14 degrees outside! 💪🏻

Thanks to my cold daily showers this was very enjoyable and I own looking forward to more ice swimming! What a great week this was, with so many highlights!

Happy chief officer Sophie, all wrapped up for the cold!

Looking forward to next week and the timber!

xxx ciao for now! Sophie

3d Term, Week 1 🤩⚓️

17th-24th of January 2021

There I am again! Just back on board for the next 2 months! I have been waiting for this moment to come for a few days now… Indeed. I have to still get used to the fact that with cargo ships, days in the harbour are not always as planned! The weather was a bit strong and the vessel got delayed. The crew change was supposed to happen in Kotka (Finland), but with the delay, it was easier for (and probably better?) to wait for the next harbour: Delfzijl (the Netherlands).

So this is what happened, I took a Covid PCR test a few days before my flight. I needed a negative one of course to board the ship but also to have access to my flight. It was very easy to get an appointment for the test. But these things are not made for seafarers… I mean with a fixed date and a booked flight, it is easy to pick a time 72hrs before the flight. But when you do not know 72 hrs before when your flight will be, it makes it all a bit more… well let’s say, « crazy ».

In the end, it went well and I boarded without any problem for Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and then to Schiphol. It was quite cold already and in Paris, there was a lot of snow and we got a delay of 2 hours. Another delay for me to arrive onboard… I still needed to fetch the rental car and drive up to Delfzijl to the ship (3,5 hours drive) and of course, go to the immigration office before joining the ship. I managed all of it but… I arrived exhausted from a full day. Nice way to start « fresh » right? : Early departure-late arrival-handover day… Without forgetting that it was snowing like crazy all the way north to the ship: slow diving on the highway while only one lane was being used and so much snow was already on the other lane!

My relief was going to dive the car back home; also in the middle of the night and the snow.

When I arrived, they had finished discharging the fertilizer they had brought from Kotka. The hold still needed to be washed and bulkheads prepared for our next cargo which was going to be wheat (grain). I was a bit worried if I had to take over directly in the hold washing or not because as soon as I arrived on board and that the handover was done, we were departing which meant I was supposed to be on watch at midnight again! Getting back into ship’s life can be quite confusing sometimes.

The view from the bridge when I was gettkng my handover: snow with a cargo hold to wash…

Luckily, the captain had arranged the schedule already and I could go directly to bed to catch up on a few small 6hours of sleep before my watch.

Sometimes it happens in the harbour that there is so little time but that is the way it is and those moments feel like “go go go” moments when you do not stop. You know you will eventually catch up on your sleep during the voyage.

#sailorslife.

I still love my job do not worry. Haha. Also, funny fact, when I was working on tall ships, our handovers were always way longer. A few legit reasons for that: we had way more people and crew on board. I was the main chief officer so I was the longest onboard a lot of the things to be explained for a good follow up. There were systems to take care of I also often needed to familiarize or re-familiarize the on signer with the ship and its safety equipment and that is quite complex and takes some time to assimilate. A « quick run-through » would take me a good two hours.

Now I am not so long off the ship, and I can familiarize myself back into the systems and safety on my own.

Anyways. There we were underway to Germany. – East Germany. A very nice area to go for walks, but unfortunately due to Covid.. – we are not allowed ashore. Of course in the middle of the night, we were in the Kiel Channel

So everyone’s sleep was totally messed up. That is usually what happens when we sail through the Kiel Channel.

So that was just a hectic start but a none and the less good start. I was really happy to see the crew again and just to be back on board.

So, the first cargo: wheat. With bulkheads. Wheat is grain, and there are specific regulations for transporting grain on board. Grain tends to shift when we heel so we should always make sure that the hold is as full as possible. This means it has to be all the way to the top of the coaming. Well, we managed that of course. We do not want to transport air right?

It was nice to be back with Captain Harry because we always end doing up crazy things. Well, I do not find them that crazy but it is more like we do “daring things” never like the others. We taste our cargo for example. This one was a bit dry and hard.

That day, there was also a bit of wind so all the light dust was flying around. Not a big deal, but the ship becomes quite dusty inside too and all the small corners on deck too. Especially where there is grease, it tends to stick directly to those areas! Of course…

We did already have a bit of snow and I was getting all excited about it haha! I tried for the first time the winter overalls for the crew. I honestly had packed so much warm clothing thinking I would be quite cold working outside in the wind and on the hatch crane without really moving much to warm up my body. But the winter overall is way too warm if I put the woollen clothes under! I would almost better be just in teeshirt underneath! That being said, we are now still in positive temperatures and I am not so sure yet what will happen when if we sail to Russia or through the Gulf of Finland or the Bothnia Sea. So for the moment, I keep it as it is and it is great! With the wheat, we will be sailing to New Holland (UK), on the Humber River. Then we will load our next cargo also close by.

Till then I am enjoying nice sailing and sunsets indeed with night coming earlier, it is dark at 1700 and I am still on watch! It doesn’t happen often to have the sunset in my watch, so I enjoy it as long as I can.

Leaving the harbour full of dust!

And of course, enjoying the nice Sunday at sea!

Did you also notice that I always join on a Sunday? So my weeks and time onboard are very easy to count and to keep track of! Great!

This is fun to be back on board! Feels great! See you next week!

S O P H I E. T H E. S A I L O R.

Just another view of the world through Sophie’s eyes while working and traveling at sea

Tag: ice sailing

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S O P H I E. T H E. S A I L O R.

Just another view of the world through Sophie’s eyes while working and traveling at sea

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